Twenty-five thoughts and takeaways from South Carolina's 19-10 win over Vanderbilt:

1. Shawn Elliott is going to enjoy the heck out of his six games as interim head coach. New music, new uniforms, he's willing to do whatever it takes to get his team to perform. The results may not always be there, but it won't be because the head coach isn't willing to try new things.

2. Jonathan Walton forced the fumble on Vanderbilt's opening possession. Stoned the fullback a yard behind the line of scrimmage and Vandy's tailback ran right into him and coughed up the ball.

3. Perry Orth is playing as well as he possibly can. He was 17-of-28 for 272 yards with a touchdown on Saturday with several beautiful throws, but could have very easily gone 21-of-28 for 300 yards and two touchdowns if not for a few drops from his receivers.

4. South Carolina's offense went uptempo for the first time in ages. There were some issues, but the fact that the Gamecocks showed an ability to put a defense on its heels is a positive sign.

5. The playcalling in the red zone continues to be baffling. South Carolina had 12 snaps inside the Vanderbilt 20-yard line and couldn't find the end zone on any of them. The Gamecocks also threw three passes from inside the 5-yard line. and didn't complete any.

6. South Carolina's defense had recovered one fumble through the first six games of the season. The Gamecocks got two on Saturday.

7. Skai Moore is everywhere: 11 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one pass breakup. He also painted the field before the game and operated a camera for the SEC Network during the third quarter.

8. Fresh off his first career sack against LSU, Marquavius Lewis had his best game of the season. With two tackles for loss and a sack, the Greenwood native appears to have settled into his role.

9. Darius English also had a great game, which isn't something that has been said very often in his career. A sack, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble for him.

10. Folks who think Elliott Fry is anything other than a phenomenal kicker are delusional.

11. Vanderbilt's offense seemed to have trouble communicating in Williams-Brice Stadium. Announced attendance was just over 75,000 and it wasn't a particularly rowdy atmosphere.

14. Brandon Wilds carried the ball 20-plus times for the first time since 2011. This is surprising because a) Wilds is a good tailback, and b) Wilds has been at South Carolina since 2011.

15. Chris Lammons appears to have become South Carolina's top defensive back. He had the leaping interception, but was also the lone cornerback on the field several times.

16. South Carolina must find a way to stop tight ends and running backs from sitting down in the middle of the field and getting 9 yards per reception. Vanderbilt lived off that play for a good chunk of the afternoon.

17. Pharoh Cooper did Pharoh Cooper things on Saturday.

18. Rivers Bedenbaugh was in the backfield several times on Saturday. You don't know who he is because South Carolina never uses its fullback, but he was on the field at times against the Commodores.

19. Freshman tight end Kyle Markaway saw playing time, lining up at wide receiver. Walk-on true freshman Hayden Hurst, recently moved to wide receiver from tight end, also saw playing time.

20. While South Carolina was penalized once for delay of game, for the first time in years, the offense didn't seem to be in danger of getting that penalty every other possession because of an inability to get the play in. At one point on Saturday, Perry Orth got the call, looked at the defense and changed the call with 30 seconds left on the play clock.

21. How Shawn Elliott gets the team ready for Texas A&M will be a much tougher test for him as a head coach than preparing the Gamecocks for Vanderbilt.

22. South Carolina's secondary still gives up a lot of space at the line of scrimmage, which could be a big problem in two weeks.

23. This is probably the perfect week for this football team to have a bye.

24. The crowd on Saturday wasn't raucous, but it was bigger than I expected. Was surprised by how many people left early, though.

25. Still don't think the Gamecocks beat another FBS team this season.